More scrambling people seeking 'mindfulness'

{From 20 Big Ideas} Avoid traffic jam on way to work. News says two more Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Forty-four e-mails in my inbox. Make that “To-go.” What was the score in the game? Send text message. The chit-chat is boring. Need to catch my boss’s eye. Jessica has to get to dance practice by 5. Is there anything in the fridge for dinner? We are scrambling fast indeed in this electronic age–of global communication, endless distractions, financial pressures, productivity demands and mounting deadlines. It has become a source of twisted pride in the beginning of the 21st century to complain to anyone who’ll listen about how we are so tremendously “busy.” People feel stressed. Exhausted. Anxious. A lot of frantic people are looking for a deeper way to live. Tens of millions are recognizing they are desperate to slow down, develop an inner life, build a calmer heart. Help has come to many via an archaic-sounding word — “mindfulness.” This spiritual practice, popularly associated with eastern meditation, has captured the North American public’s mind, so to speak. People everywhere now talk about the virtues of mindfulness; in higher education, health care, yoga classes, self-help advice and corporate offices. For so-called “secular” people who do not find inner peace through Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other organized religions, the admonition to be “mindful” has become an acceptable way to taste stillness. Known in the past as “contemplation” or “awareness,” mindfulness, unbeknownst to most people, has been integral to Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other western religions for thousands of years. But now it is popularly associated with Buddhism. Despite its origins in religion, mindfulness has penetrated almost all facets of society in the past decade: public education, emotional and physical health and big business. Perhaps the main reasons it’s spreading flows from its breakthrough into academia, which has in the past prided itself on being rigorously non-spiritual. Psychologists, neuro-scientists and other researchers have won scores of grants to study the measurable benefits of this form of meditation. When Time magazine in 2003 did a major cover story on the “science” of meditation, particularly mindfulness, it was effectively capturing what would go on to become this new millennium’s spiritual zeitgeist. As a way to promote inner peace and personal effectiveness, mindfulness echoes the hip series of books of the 1990s with titles such as The Zen of Golf and the The Tao of Leadership. What, exactly, is mindfulness? It is one of many diverse kinds of meditation, others of which emphasize focusing on specific sounds, images or values. Mindfulness involves being fully present “in the moment.” Often accomplished by concentrating on one’s breath or body sensations, mindfulness calls for non-judgmental awareness of each thought or feeling that arises, without attempting to change them. Psychotherapists such as Jon Kabat-Zinn, who is often associated with sparking the mindfulness movement, says the practice is “simple, but not easy.” Academic acceptance Vancouver spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle basically outlines mindfulness concepts in his immensely popular books, such as The Power of Now. Mindfulness is being studied up the yin-yang. In the U.S. alone, the National Institute of Health has handed out more than 50 major grants to explore mindfulness’s favourable effects. Researchers are discovering mindfulness is useful for countering compulsive behaviour. It’s also said to promote curiosity. For the most part, secular university scholars have in the past felt barred from studying religion or spirituality in any way that might suggest it has something positive to offer.But mindfulness meditation has broken through that traditional barrier, since it is said to be available to anyone regardless of religion, or lack thereof. The fact many of the academics researching mindfulness think of themselves as Buddhists has been ignored. For some reason, the scholars who would normally oppose their colleagues digging into the possibly good aspects of a spiritual discipline do not mind when their colleagues might be Buddhists. As a result, some Jews, Christians and Muslims who would welcome research into practices associated with their faiths (such as prayer, chanting, spiritual healing or peak religious experiences) would like the same treatment from academics. Maybe that will become a trend in the next decade. Last year, I attended a conference of psychologists in Seattle at which Alan Marlatt, a Buddhist academic, talked about studies he’d conducted into the benefits of mindfulness for alcoholics and prisoners. What scholars such as Marlatt, Daniel Siegel, UBC’s Kim Schonert-Reichl (left) and scores of others are finding is that regular mindfulness meditation can reduce the effects of depression, stress, anxiety, chronic pain, substance abuse and more. (SFU education professor Heesoon Bai, right, teaches meditation to help her often-anxious students focus.) Paying attention Beyond higher education, researchers have found mindful meditation can also improve grades among kindergarten to -Grade 12 students. As well, it’s moving deeply into health care and organizational management. General Mills Foods has been among those giant companies actively promoting mindfulness training among senior staff to “cultivate the brain’s ability to be present, to be focused, to be less reactive and listen deeply.” In the face of mindfulness’s expanding influence, the head of Vancouver’s Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education reminds the public that it should not be associated solely with Buddhism. Mindfulness is common to all religions and even to many secular activities, says Victor Chan. Mindfulness can be part of everything from writing in one’s journal to slowly washing dishes. “You do not have to sit in the lotus position and say ‘Om’ all the time to practise meditation or mindfulness,” Chan says. A former tennis instructor, Chan says he was basically teaching mindfulness, or being in the flow, to his students when he was helping them learn how to concentrate on hitting the ball. Chan says his daughters also practise mindfulness when they play the piano, draw, practise martial arts or recite or memorize poetry. “I would basically define ‘mindfulness’ as ‘paying attention,’” Chan says. “It is a form of doing something simple over and over. It puts one in a state where he or she is focused, centred or grounded.” Despite all the positive claims being made about mindfulness, some have picked holes in it. Zen Master Muho Noelke, a prominent Buddhist abbot, says concentrating on “being mindful” creates a separation between one’s self and reality. “Don’t be mindful, please,” the abbot says. “When you walk, just walk. Let the walk walk. Let the talk talk.” As well, even those who believe mindfulness is generally a good thing warn it can have a dark side. A pervasive forc e In the book, The Psychoanalytic Mystic, Michael Eigen says he has seen mindfulness meditation be used by clients to deny their own pain, and even accentuate their narcissism. As well, since advocates of mindfulness say it helps people “accept things as they are,” some critics say it can lead to passivity and lack of concern for social justice. Despite such concerns, mindfulness meditation continues to seep into almost all aspects of secular culture. Along the way it’s also prodding some Jews, Christians and Muslims to try to revive their tradition’s once widely ignored meditative and contemplative practices, such as “centring prayer.” Now that this ancient spiritual practice is being enthusiastically studied by researchers, it’s clear it will continue to make a strong impact on many walks of life. The two most powerful forces in society, some say, are religion and education. The current fascination with mindfulness meditation is bringing both these spheres together, with far-reaching consequences.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.